CINEMAFRICA

En film av Edward Owens

KORTFILM+LÅNGFILM:

Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, Edward Owens, 1966, 6 min, USA

“Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts” is an experimental short film from Edward Owens (1949–2009), a queer African-American filmmaker who was involved with the New American Cinema of the 1960s. Composed of still and moving images, the film is a poetic montage that mixes the appearances of black and white people, alternating between domestic settings and sumptuous hotels. In between photographic depiction and painterly abstraction, we move from realism to fantasy and back.

Compensation, Zeinabu irene Davis, 1999, 1h 35min, USA

Compensation is the first feature by award-winning filmmaker Zeinabu irene Davis (Cycles and A Powerfull Thang), presents two unique African-American love stories between a deaf woman and a hearing man. Inspired by a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, this moving narrative shares their struggle to overcome racism, disability and discrimination. An important film on African-American deaf culture, Davis innovatively incorporates silent film techniques (such as title cards and vintage photos) to make the piece accessible to hearing and deaf viewers alike, and to share the vast possibilities of language and communication.